You may have noticed that I have not been updating much in the last few months. I recently began my career as a graduate student, and I don’t have as much time as I would like to post all the literary tidbits that I would like (also, some of my sources, like Arts and Letters Daily, seem to be getting trashier). Today I’d like to catch up a little with some older stories that I think deserve some attention.
Idiots Discuss the Dumbing Down of Literature
There is a ridiculous article at the Christian Science Monitor that seems to take the postion that comic books and graphic novels can be useful to teach youngsters remedial reading comprehension, but that they are ultimately products of pop culture (and therefore not serious art, which means that if they don’t have some functional purpose they become either socially repugnant or downright damaging to young minds) and are to be ignored by genuinely literate people. What nonsense.
Cultural Decay as an Industry
Here is a slightly more optimistic essay from the Village Voice about the Chicken Little attitude that many pundits have when it comes to the issues of reading and cultural decay.
Truth is Stranger than Non-Fiction
A must read for anyone interesting in writing non-fiction (and maybe fiction too).
Translation Woes
About a month ago the Guardian ran some correspondence between an author and a translator that is quite interesting to read.
A Plague on Both Your Houses
I swear to God on High™ that if the popular press doesn’t stop harping about Shakespeare (yes, I know it’s a book review and therefore slightly different, but I don’t care) I’m going to go all Mercutio on someone’s ass. It’s not like the popular press gets anything right, so why do they bother? All these ridiculous pieces they’ve been releasing lately just make them look like idiots to even the modestly educated.
Beauty from Days of Future Past
Umberto Eco has an interesting article on notions of beauty in an edition of the Guardian from a few weeks ago.
